Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy and Ultrasound Waves Effectively Reduce Symptoms of Chronic Calcaneal Spur

Abstract

Calcaneal spur occurs when calcium deposits build up on the underside of the heel bone, the process that usually continues for many months. Chronic calcaneal spur is a vested disease commonly appearing in adults and it leads to the inflammatory of the plantar fasciitis, disability and as a result to the limitation of social and professional activities. Among main causes of the plantar fasciitis, there are: an inflammation of the Achilles tendon bursitis, fatigue fractures of the calcaneal tuberosity, obesity, running and jumping, work in a standing position, lifting heavy objects, flat feet, rheumatic changes. The treatment of calcaneal spur is primarily conservative, it includes kinesiotherapy, orthoses, corticosteroid therapy, and electrotherapy, but their efficacy remains controversial. Surgery is also a line of treatment, however different (more invasive) from a conservative treatment in people suffering from calcaneal spur. Despite on this, in this publication we don't compare which treatment line is more effective for the symptoms of calcaneal spur, because the goal of this study was to compare the efficacy of the extracorporeal shock wave therapy and ultrasound waves in reducing the painful symptoms in people with calcaneal spur. Numerous studies show, that electrotherapy, such as ultrasound waves and extracorporeal shock wave therapy are used on pain in patients suffering from calcaneal spur. Boerner et al., compared the analgesic efficacy of the 0.8 W/cm 2 and 1.2 W/cm 2 doses during 10 ultrasound wave treatments performed 5 times a week. The results showed that a less dose decreased the pain in the patients with calcaneal spur [1]. Lizis and Husar also confirmed the analgesic efficacy of the 0.8 W/cm 2 dose after 10 ultrasound wave treatments performed 5 times a week, because a very significant decrease of pain remained for 6 weeks after the treatment [2]. Zanon et al. evaluated the analgesic efficacy of the 2 W/cm 2 dose for 15 treatments performed three times a week. It turned out that the ultrasound wave topical application of high power did not decrease the pain in chronic plantar fasciitis inflammation associated with calcaneal spur [3]. The cited authors studies' results showed that the patients had better reactions to less doses of ultrasound wave, because of the patients' effective decrease of pain and their faster taking normal daily activities.